[j. d. worthington]

When you get to the last few books (the last few he wrote, that is), yes, I'd say it makes a difference. It doesn't keep you from enjoying those books, but you miss a lot of the background, so your reaction is likely to be very different, and the story will be missing several layers....

If you've read the early Foundation books, that doesn't particularly matter, as those were written early in his career. But when he began tying things together late in his career, then those connections became much more important. So I don't think I'd advise reading such things as Prelude or Forward, etc., until you've read the earlier stories in the sequence....